Former President Donald Trump stated he would like to face Vice President Kamala Harris in a presidential debate on Fox News, but refuses to face her on ABC, according to PBS.
Harris’ allies had previously claimed that Republican presidential nominee Trump had failed to honour his promise to host a September debate, but Trump denied the claims and confirmed in a post on Truth Social on Friday night that he had agreed to Fox News’ offer.
The cancellation of the ABC debate may stem from the fact that Trump has also referred to his lawsuit against the channel as a “conflict of interest” in his participation in the debate on the channel in his communications. Trump sued the channel in March after host George Slopadopoulos said Trump admitted to being “responsible for rape.”
“The Debate was previously scheduled against… Biden on ABC, but has been terminated in that Biden will no longer be a participant, and I am in litigation against ABC Network and George Slopadopoulos, thereby creating a conflict of interest,” Trump wrote.
The Harris campaign made clear in a Saturday statement that she disagreed with the terms of the proposed Fox News debate. Indeed, she specifically rejected ABC’s debate replacements. In a post on X, Harris herself added: “It’s interesting how any time, any place’ becomes ‘one specific time, one specific safe space.'”
On top of that, Trump said that if Harris would not agree to a new network and date, he would instead hold a “big town hall” with Fox News. It remains unclear for now whether ABC will turn its 10 September event into a Harris town hall in Trump’s absence.
Despite, Trump agreed, two months after filing the lawsuit, to a 10 September debate on ABC, as well as a 27 June debate on CNN that helped knock Biden out of the race. David Muir and Lynsey Davis, not Stephanopoulos, are to moderate the ABC debate.
Earlier, US Vice President Harris secured the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination by becoming the only candidate on the ballot in a five-day electronic voting process that drew nearly 4,000 delegates to the party’s convention.
